2023 is already hotting up with a slew of amazing albums releasing in February. I had to trouble cutting the list down but here are the top 12 best albums of February 2023.

12.

The latest album from singer-songwriter Andy Shauf continues on his soft rock sound with delicate and soothing arrangements calling back to 70s soft rock music. The majority of this is his softly strummed guitar with other elements of percussion subtly enhancing the sound in the background. His lyrics also fit the music with a soft and soothing singing voice that mixes in with the guitar. This album sets itself apart through the lyrics. In deeply ironic fashion the lyrics depict a twisted lover. On the surface level, the lyrics may seem like typical love ballads. But when the lyrics are listened to closely it clearly shows an obsessive love that veers into stalking. This creates a fascinating contrast and can create two distinct listenings of the album; focusing on the music or focusing on the lyrics.

11.

Tha God Fahim might be the most prolific artist in the rap game. He released 5 albums last year and this is already his 3rd album from this year. This constant release schedule has made it difficult for some of his projects to stand out despite his clear talents and artistic creativity. Everything on here feels more focused than some of his more recent albums. The beats are all catchy and consistent with production from Sadhugold, Camouflage Monk, Nicholas Craven, and Fahim himself. Fahim’s beats are a particular standout with catchy loops on Man Of Steel and Let’s Make A Deal. The features on this also step up their game with Mach-Hommy, Your Old Droog, and Tha God Fahim combining for an energetic and non-stop lyrical performance on Let’s Make A Deal and Your Old Droog having two other solid features on the album. Fahim also sounds hungry on this album with standout performances on Turbulent Nights and Battleship. Fahim continues to stay hungry and subtly refine his sound even through his plethora of releases.

10.

Shame continues their signature blend of indie and punk with energetic instrumentation and depressive lyricism. In comparison to some of the other artists in the British indie/post-punk scene, the vocals are much more traditionally sung rather than bordering on spoken word. On their 3rd album Shame sound tight and refined with a wide variety of instrumentation. They can easily go from slow prodding instrumentals to faster more art punk-inspired drums and guitar. The lead singer Charlie Steen puts emotion into all these songs with raw and passionate singing. Shame continues to refine their sound on their 3rd album and distinguish themselves from other artists in the British indie scene.

9.

This album is one of the most simultaneously surprising and emotionally potent listens for me this year. I was already aware of the Korean shoegaze and alternative rock scene with artists like Parannoul and Asian Glow and while I appreciated the music none of it fully connected with me. This album on the other hand is the perfect mix of slow, washed-out production and grand post-rock builds and orchestration. The soft and low-mixed vocals give this album a dreamy aesthetic. The grand shoegaze and post-rock arrangements and the dreamy vocals combine to create an ethereal experience. The structureless nature of these songs also enhances this experience with the album creating a singular mood. The last track, How To Avoid The Bends, ends the album perfectly with washed-out guitars and walls of noise over soft and beautiful vocals.

8.

Sam Gendel is one of the most adventurous voices in modern jazz. Unafraid to experiment with different sounds and break conventional jazz rules he is breathing fresh air into a somewhat stagnant and rigid jazz scene that often seems afraid to break from tradition. On this album, he is at his most daring. It is a cover album of sorts with each song a jazz interpretation of a classic 90s/00s R&B song. This includes covers of Aaliyah, Erykah Badu and Boyz II Men. This provides a unique framework to create a jazz album with familiar and catchy melodies built into avant-garde jazz tunes. For one example of the uniqueness of this concept on Are You That Somebody he takes the classic Aaliyah tune and pulls out the melody. He simplifies this melody to an almost repetitive extent with an emotionless spoken word section over the melody. When the spoken word section ends the repeated melody gives way to spacey and distant chords with the melody slowly breaking down in the background. Unique ideas like this are used throughout the album to great effect. From classic R&B tunes to neo-soul cuts the album covers a wide variety of songs from to 90s to the 00s keeping it interesting throughout. This album continues to show the unique ideas and sounds possible in jazz music and pushes the genre forward by referencing the past.

7.

After experimenting with indie and heartland rock on their last two albums The Men return to their signature style of noisy and energetic garage rock. They slip seamlessly back into this sound and show their experience with garage rock. The guitars and drums are loud and blaring but still controlled with fast and heavy riffs. Mark Perro’s vocals still stand out from the instrumentation with their anger and snarl. These simple and quick rock tracks are satisfying and scratch a certain itch. The last song on the album is the most ambitious track on the album clocking in at almost 6.5 minutes. While still noisy it is slower and the singer is more melodic. They pull this still off well with them maintaining their raw energy but still creating a longer and more melodically satisfying track. This track helps to end the album with more of a punch and shows variety to fairly basic garage rock tracks. While this album may be simple it does what it’s trying to do very well.

6.

If you found the rock on New York City too formulaic this might be the perfect album for you. The album combines punk, dance and industrial music for one of the most unique genre blends and rock records in recent memory. The tracks can go from simmering to self-righteous anger in seconds and the vocals bring a sense of manic rage. The touches of industrial production add to the anxious and ominous feel of the music. Where this album really succeeds is with its buildups and catharsis of emotion. The first track shows the album’s great use of dynamics starting with a simmering, thumping electronic beat which breaks into a faster rhythm with loud, aggressive drums. The most impressive part of this album is despite all the no-wave and industrial elements how catchy model/actriz manage to make this album. Despite the mechanical and industrial feeling of these beats they still weave this sound with dance and punk. A big part of the catchiness of this album is the lead singer, Cole Haden. He uses melodies that stick in the head and fit perfectly with heavy and angry beats. His lyrics toe the line between violent, indignant, angry and longing all combining to create a flurry of emotion. That sums up the overall feel of the album; emotional catharsis. Through all the various and disparate elements that Model/Actriz put into this album, they forge their own distinct sound that sounds wholly unique. On their debut album, they easily exceed the hype of their singles and show why they are one of the most exciting and forward-thinking voices in rock music.

5.

Rome Streetz has a big task following up the success and acclaim of last years Kiss the Ring. On his Griselda debut he combined with a series of regular Griselda producers to create a grimy and vivid album. He also debunked the critcism of his lack of verstality with flows. On this album he has a more focused vision with the whole album produced by Big Ghost Ltd. The beats here are much more focused and cohesive on this album with a big focus on grimy and cinematic samples. Over these drumless loops Rome brings his relentless flow spitting bars and bars over head bopping beats. He also brings some more choruses to relatively positive effect like the memorable repetition of, “suicide, it’s a suicide.” The standout feature comes from Method Man who over a looped piano sample spits a tight and memorable verse creating one of the best tracks on the album. Rome Streetz sounds as hungry as ever and the focus and talent of Big Ghost Ltd. helps him to create a worthy follow up to Kiss the Ring.

4.

Liv.e has already established herself in the alternative music scene through her 2020 album and a plethora of features with experimental and forward-thinking rappers like Earl Sweatshirt and Pink Siifu. On her second album, she experiments even more creating a psychedelic and alternative R&B album with influences from drum and bass, electronic, and hypnagogic music. She blends up all these influences into a trippy and eclectic 40-minute experience. She can go from trippy and chaotic production to minimal and lush layers of synths from track to track carrying these tonal shifts with the strength of her voice. No matter the production her voice always stands out as delicate and mellow helping to make the album cohesive. The album feels like one singular experience with no clear structure to the tracks and constant and unpredictable changes. Liv.e makes one of the eclectic R&B albums shows the genreless and boundless nature of made music made possible through modern technology and the near endless and accessible amount of music through the internet.

3.

Young Fathers are a band formed in Edinburgh, Scotland but you couldn’t tell that from their music. They fuse pop and indie music with a wide range of genres that sound on paper like they wouldn’t work. But somehow they pull it off with ease. This album comes 5 years after their last album Cocoa Sugar won Scottish album of the year. To follow up this album they expand their influences even more taking ideas and sounds from gospel, industrial and West African music. All these influences are still filtered heavily through art pop and catchy melodies. For all the genre influences this album is incredibly cohesive with each track performed with passion and energy. This is probably the most consistently fun album I’ve listened to this year with anthemic vocals and bright production. They also tinge this album shown best by the spacious production on Tell Somebody which builds to a resplendent crescendo with pummeling drums and strings. The production here is glossy and smooth with each groove and instrument being crystal clear in the mix. This album is so catchy that one of the tracks, Rice, was even featured in the FIFA 23 soundtrack. Young Fathers continue to push their sound to create one of the catchiest, most fun and most genre-diverse albums of the year.

2.

Caroline Polachek began her career with the popular indie pop duo Chairlift. In that group, it was obvious her ambitions were more experimental and forward-thinking than the genre allowed her to be. These ambitions were realised on 2019’s Pang, a glitchy and electronic alt-pop album. With the immediate success of that album, she established her name in the alternative pop scene along with the likes of Charli XCX and FKA Twigs. Expectations were high for her follow up but with this album, she shows why she is the most exciting and forward-thinking pop artist right now. The instrumentals here are glitchy, and electronic but undeniably catchy. Her vocals are even better here than on Pang with a smooth and pitch-perfect delivery. Highlights of her singing from this album come from her vocal flexibility on Bunny Is A Rider and the warm humming and melodies on Blood And Butter. She also teams up with Grimes and Dido on the track Fly To You to create an alternative pop holy grail with very different voices bringing interesting variety over a punchy, electronic beat. Caroline Polachek creates one of the most interesting and forward-thinking pop albums in recent memory and sets a high bar for the ambitiousness of pop music.

1.

This is the 4th album by the post-punk and alternative rock group Algiers. On this album, they experiment with experimental and political hip-hop. Rather than taking the Rage Against the Machine approach of energetic rage, they use hip-hop to create more sombre and indignant political anger. Speaking of Rage Against the Machine, lead singer Zack De La Rocha is featured on the second track Irreversible Damage. He brings contrast to Algiers frontman, Franklin James Fisher’s deep delivery reminiscent of soul, with his energetic half-rapped delivery. This album is packed full of surprising collaborations including spoken word passages throughout the album by legendary hip-hop figure Big Rube, verses from underground legends billy woods and Backxwash, and Egyptian folk artist Nadah el Shazly. billy woods and Backxwash combine for their first collaboration on an ominous track. The track begins with an ominous piano where billy woods spits a complex and vivid verse. The track then explodes with punchy drums suiting Backxwash’s angered and loud delivery. Franklin James Fisher’s deep delivery helps bring a soulful feeling to this album and provides an interesting contrast to the industrial production across this album. The biggest criticism I’ve seen of this album is that it lacks cohesion. While it is a chaotic album I think the manic energy and off-kilter sequencing work in its favour. The album never really lets you rest going from hip-hop to soul to punk to spoken work to industrial and even to sombre and atmospheric tracks like Cleanse Your Guilt Here. Algiers combine with a variety of names to create one of the most chaotic, politically potent and stressful (somehow in a good way) albums of the year.